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HomeMy WebLinkAboutADM 160 Customer Service PolicyPICKERING Policy Procedure Title: Customer Service Policy Policy Number ADM 160 Reference Resolution #22/09 Bill 8 Resolution # 200/16 Date Originated (m/d/y) January 2009 Date Revised (m/d/y) April 2015 September 2016 Pages 5 Approval: Chief Ad ' istra 'vOfficer 6? Policy Objective Point of Contact Division Head, City Administration The City of Pickering provides services to our citizens, businesses and other community stakeholders. Every effort will be made to ensure we provide cost-effective, citizen -centred service that is accessible, timely, knowledgeable, competent, courteous, caring, and fair. In accordance with Bill 8, the City of Pickering has a renewed responsibility to strengthen and clearly define our local complaint mechanisms and policies, which gives complainants a clear path to follow when seeking resolution to an issue. The Ontario Ombudsman will only investigate a complaint once local complaint processes have been completed, thus members of the public will be able to utilize the Ontario Ombudsman if they feel their complaints are not being heard by the municipality. This policy will set out standards and procedures to meet our customer service objectives, and will outline the process for receiving feedback and resolving issues relating to public complaints. Index 01 Definitions 02 Scope and Responsibility 03 Guiding Principles 04 Procedure for Submitting and Processing a Complaint 05 Training 06 Feedback 07 Accessibility Standards 01 Definitions 01.01 Accessibility Standards — Ontario regulation 429/07 created under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, (AODA) which provides for standards to enhance the accessibility of an organization. 01.02 Bill 8 is the Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act, 2014. This legislation makes changes to the Ontario Ombudsman's mandate, expanding their jurisdiction to municipalities which allows the Ombudsman to investigate municipal complaints. 01.03 Complaint — any expression of dissatisfaction about. the action or lack of action taken regarding operations, facilities or services provided by the City of Pickering or by a person or body acting on behalf of the City. The term "dissatisfaction" is key to the definition of a complaint. Feedback of a positive or general nature, comments on a service or facility that do not require a response, or requests for service, are not complaints. Complaints imply that the complainant is unhappy with the service received, and that they require a follow- up in response to the issue. 01.04 Customers: a) all staff; b) Mayor & Members of Council; c) other political representatives; d) citizens and visitors to the City of Pickering; e) businesses; f) volunteers and agents recognized by the City; and g) all community stakeholders. 01.05 Feedback — means an opinion, comment, or expression of interest with respect to a City program or service. 01.06 Ontario Ombudsman — an official whose function is to investigate in an independent manner any decision or recommendation made or done or omitted in the course of the administration of the municipality. 01.07 Service Level Standard — A standard defining customer service best practices. 01.08 Service request — a service request can be received through various service channels and shall be responded to in compliance with corporate policies and procedures. Service requests may be a complaint, issue, or simply a request for service. Policy Title: Customer Service Policy Number: ADM 160 Page 2 of 5 02 Scope and Responsibility 02.01 Anonymous allegations or allegations made on behalf of an unidentified third party will not be considered or investigated, with the exception of complaints that are an immediate threat to safety. 02.02 This Policy applies to all municipal employees. 02.03 This Policy is not meant to address: a) issues already addressed by legislation, or an existing Municipal by-law, policy or procedure; b) services of the municipality where there already exists a right of appeal or process to complain; c) a decision of Council or a decision of a Standing Committee; or d) internal employee complaints. 03 Guiding Principles 03.01 All complaints will be treated in a confidential manner in order to protect the complainant's privacy in accordance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act 1990, subject to the need to disclose such information as may reasonably be necessary in order to properly investigate the matter. 03.02 Review of complaints shall be impartial and respectful to all parties involved. 03.03 As per the City of Pickering's service level standards, complaints should be documented and acknowledged within one business day. This includes an initial response to the complainant advising of anticipated action and timeline for response. Given the nature of the issue or concern, these timelines are flexible. 03.04 The City will regularly monitor and review complaints to identify issues, trends, areas of concern, and opportunities for improvement. 04 Procedure for Submitting and Processing a Complaint 04.01 A complaint may be given verbally (in person or by telephone) or in writing. Written complaints can be submitted using the City's Feedback Form available on the City's website and in City facilities, or in another format (i.e. email, handwritten, social media, etc.). Complaints should include: a) the specific details of what occurred; b) date of occurrence including time, day, month and year; c) who was involved; Policy Title: Customer Service Policy Number: ADM 160 Page 3 of 5 d) what outcome is being sought; and e) contact details for the complainant. 04.02 All complaints will be forwarded to the Customer Care Centre. Complaints will be tracked by the City's tracking system. Customer Care staff will forward the complaint to the appropriate department for action and follow up. 04.03 Complaints received by other Departments will be handled according to the Customer Service Policy and corresponding Standard Operating Procedures. 04.04 Customer Care staff will follow up with staff responsible on the agreed upon follow-up date to ensure the complaint is being responded to. Once the issue has been resolved, the complaint will be closed in the system. 04.05 Complainants shall be provided with the contact information for the Ontario Ombudsman's Office and other options available to them in the event that they are dissatisfied with the City's complaint process or outcome. 04.06 If any City staff are contacted by the Ontario Ombudsman's office, they must advise the City Clerk to keep track of calls. 04.07 In order to ensure effective response timelines to citizen requests, concerns or enquiries the service expectations have been determined for the following categories and outlined in Appendix 1: a) mailed or faxed correspondence; b) email standards; c) telephone and voicemail; and d) complaint resolution. 04.08 Complete records will be maintained for each complaint. The records will be maintained in accordance with the City of Pickering's Records Management By- law. 05 Training Customer service training is the cornerstone of our customer service program. All employees (including full-time, part-time, term, temporary, and volunteers) receive training on the City's customer service program. Customer service training is included in our employee orientation sessions. Training is based on our service level standards including: ® customer care values; o telephone/voicemail standards; ® email standards; ® correspondence standards; Policy Title: Customer Service Page 4 of 5 Policy Number: ADM 160 ® complaint resolution; and • accessibility standards. 06 Feedback Customer feedback is an integral component of our service delivery program, providing opportunities to learn and improve. We value feedback about our programs and services and recognize the right of our citizens to make a complaint, compliment or suggestion about our services. We are committed to using customer feedback to improve/enhance our service delivery. All customer feedback is monitored by our Customer Care Centre, tracked, and responded to. 07 Accessibility Standards The City will use reasonable efforts to ensure that its policies, practices and procedures are consistent with the following principles: 07.01 The goods or services must be provided in a manner that respects the dignity and independence of persons with disabilities. 07.02 The provision of goods or services to persons with disabilities and to others must be integrated unless an alternate measure is necessary, whether temporarily or on a permanent basis, to enable the person with a disability to obtain, use or benefit from the goods or services. 07.03 Persons with disabilities must be given an opportunity equal to that given to others to obtain, use or benefit from the goods or services. 07.04 We will use reasonable efforts to ensure that the policies, procedures and practices are consistent with the following principles: ® dignity; ® independence; ® integration, except when alternate measures are necessary to meet the needs of people with disabilities; and ® equal opportunity. Please refer.to all associated Procedures and. Standard Operating Procedures, if applicable, for detailed processes regarding this Policy. Appendices Appendix 1 Service Level Standard Guidelines Summary Policy Title: Customer Service Policy Number: ADM 160 Page 5 of 5 ce Telephone/Voicemail 3 Rings • answered within 3 rings Call Transferring • remain on the line with your caller to ensure the correct staff member is reached • prior to releasing the call, inform the staff member of any information you obtained. The caller will appreciate not having to repeat the reason for their call a second time • if the staff member is not available, ask for your customer's permission, prior to releasing their call into voicemail 1 Business Day • calls should be returned within one business day Answered Live • Directors/Division Heads and their Administrative Assistant's must have live answer during regular business hours Keep Your Voicemail Greetings Current • voicemail messages must be kept current and changed daily at a minimum Your voicemail should include: ■ your name ■ your department/division/section ■ the date ■ your availability ■ time when calls will be returned ■ a "zero" out operator option for live assistance or an alternate contact number Changing Voicemail Greetings and Picking Up Messages From your phone • press voicemail key or dial 4660 • enter security code/password From outside the office • call 905.420.4660 and enter * • enter your extension number and enter # • enter security code/password One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities. PICKERING Service Level Standard Summary Se ice e eStria entniggy•••••••- Re pose Timeline Email Standards 30 Minutes • checked within the first 30 minutes of your arrival, checked again when you return from lunch and a final check should be done prior to the end of the business day 2 Business Days • emails should be acknowledged within 2 business days of receipt. Interim acknowledgement indicating a response time must be sent within 2 business days, if a conclusive response is not expected within 15 business days 15 Business Days • for response Out of Office Assistant • the Out of Office Assistant should be utilized in the same fashion, as one would do for voicemail. If you are going to be away from the office for a period of one business day or more, the Out of Office Assistant should include your expected date of return and an alternate contact Outlook - System Clean Up • prior to vacations or extended absences, delete outdated emails so that your mailbox doesn't fill up. If your mailbox becomes full, you will not receive any emails that were sent to you Mailed or Faxed Correspondence 15 Business Days • responded to within 15 business days of receipt 5 Business Days Initial Acknowledgement • if a conclusive response is not expected within 15 business days of receipt, then an interim acknowledgement must be sent within 5 business days One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities. P1CICER11 Service Level Standard Summary Handling Challenging Customers Use your EAR... Empathize Put yourself in your customer's shoes. Show them you care Acknowledge the importance of what your customer is saying Re -phrase Put the customer's needs in your own words. This shows that you have listened and understood their need. It's also a chance to clarify the situation if you have misunderstood • prepare yourself by gathering all the relevant information • listen without interrupting • monitor your body language and attitude • pause briefly before responding, this will allow you to gather your thoughts • stay positive, don't take your customer's complaints or anger personally • if your customer is becoming hostile or aggressive, don't be afraid to ask for help from your supervisor or another staff member • if you are dealing with an angry or aggressive customer on the phone, you can terminate the call; as long as you warn them ahead of time and give them an opportunity to correct the offensive behaviour. Prior to hanging up, invite your customer to call back when they have calmed down so that you can work together to resolve their concern *Reminder: If documentation of an incident is required, forms can be found on the intranet. Have you had a challenging customer? Our door is always open. Sometimes just taking a few moments to debrief, will let you de -stress and recharge you for the rest of the day. We are happy to lend an ear! One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities. PICKE R1 NG Service Level Standard Summary Complaint Resolution (includes telephone, email etc.,) • our best practice service expectation is that complainants will receive an initial response within 1 business day, and will be provided with the anticipated action and timeframe where appropriate. We should strive to reasonably achieve these standards Request for Service (tracking system) Within receipt of a concern/issue the resident will be provided with an initial response within 1 business day. This will confirm the following: 1. you have received their information 2. arranged for it to be investigated 3. they will receive relevant updates (provide them with a timeline for investigation and response; and then stick to it) Helpful Hint — Mark for follow up prior to the expected due date to ensure the timeline can be adhered to. If the timeline is not met, call the resident to advise of a new timeline. They appreciate the follow up. This will avoid frustration on the residents' part, and will be a time saver for you in the end, as it will not be escalated. This can be achieved easily by running monthly reports. Be Pro -Active! Calls Received in the Customer Care Centre Calls entered on the tracking system that are received by the Customer Care Centre staff will be processed using the following guidelines: 1. the call will be sent to the appropriate staff with a two-week follow up date, unless noted otherwise One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities. Service Level Standard Summary Response Request for Service (tracking system)- continued 2. departmental/divisional staff is responsible to update the system to note that a) the inspection has been conducted b) required action to address issue and timeline for completion c) confirmation that the resident has been advised of the actions that will be taken and the anticipated timeline for completion Issues Identified as a Potential Hazard: Issues that are identified by the customer, as a potential hazard should be inspected within one business day. The course of action to address the issue should be identified, and the resident updated as to what actions staff will be taking and an anticipated timeline for completion. Timelines Not Met If the timeline cannot be met, the resident and interested parties must be contacted and provided with an explanation, as well as the new timeline for completion. This should be done one week prior to the anticipated completion date. Reports can be generated that will identify all outstanding issues within the specified timeline. Escalation Process All calls must have an update by the agreed upon follow up date. If the update is not recorded on the tracking system the Supervisor/Division Head will be copied on the 3rd request. The file will be marked for follow up in three business days, if at that time there is still no update, the Director will be copied on the 4th request. At this point, Customer Care staff will be following up daily to ensure that an update is received. One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities. PICKE RI NG Service Level Standard Summary Request for Service (tracking system) - continued Closing a Call A call should never be closed unless all items have been attended to and resolved. As an example — a tree pruning call should not be closed simply because it is on the list. It should remain open, until the tree has been pruned. Mayor, Members of Council & CAO Referrals Any calls that have Council or CAO involvement should not be closed. It is the responsibility of the Customer Centre to do so. Our Customer Care team is always available to discuss any service related matters, provide tips, receive your suggestions, or offer a listening ear. The Customer Care team can be reached at extension 4666. Serving Our Citizens — it's what we do! One Team. One Vision. Infinite Possibilities.